Northallerton
North Yorkshire
DL7 8AL
Tel: 01609 532284
Veritau Ltd is a company jointly owned by North Yorkshire County Council and City of York Council /
Pre-Audit Questionnaire (NYCC Schools)
Please complete the following questionnaire in as much detail as possible and return by email to at least 3 days before the audit visit. If you have any queries concerning this questionnaire please contact Julie Pollock on 01609 535901.
Please send the documents listed on page 5 electronically (if available) to
please.
Procurement for Schools
1.1 / Has the School got a Scheme of Delegation to the Head Teacher and a Term of reference for the Finance Committee in place?Please provide the date the Governing body last reviewed/ updated the above?
Have there been instances where the guidance in the Scheme of Delegation has not been adhered to?
1.2 / Have any members of school staff or members of the Governing Body undertaken any Finance training?
If so who and when?
1.3 / Have any members of school staff or members of the Governing body undertaken any LMS Procedure Rules training?
If so who and when?
1.4 / Have any members of schools staff or members of the Governing body undertaken Procurement for Schools training?
If so who and when?
1.5 / Do members of staff have access to written down procedures which cover financial rules, routines and processes such as the School Finance Manual and the LMS Contract Procedure Rules?
1.6 / Who currently can raise orders at the school?
Which members of staff can authorise purchase orders?
Are the delivery details annotated or notes attached?
1.7 / Are orders raised where appropriate?
Are there any suppliers who do not receive an order for any reason?
1.8 / How does the school demonstrate that it continually seeks Value for Money and achieves efficiencies in its procurement of goods and services?
1.9 / Does the school consider collaboration with others eg on sharing staff or joint purchasing where that would improve value for money?
1.10 / How often does the school review its expenditure and procurement against that of other similar schools?
How do they do this (is it through benchmarking or another process?)
What type of information went to the Governors / Finance Committee relating to Benchmarking results?
Is there any action plans in place to try and act on findings?
1.11 / Can the school give examples of where it has improved the use of resources during the past year?
1.12 / Which members of staff are the cheque signatories?
1.13 / Have any large purchases (costing over £5,000) been made since April 2013? (inc Capital Projects). Please list no more than 5.
If “Yes” then answer Q’s 1.14 & 1.15
If “No” then answer Q 1.16
1.14 / If so were LMS Contract Procedure Rules followed relating to Quotations (for purchases over £5,000) or Tenders (over £100,000)?
In particular, what were the arrangements for
- the selection of potential contractors
- the drawing up of information and instructions for contractors
- the receipt of quotations and/or tenders
- the opening of quotations and/or tenders
- the recording of the opening process
- the evaluation of quotations and/or tenders
Is evidence available to support this process?
1.15 / If the Governing Body did not follow LMS Contract Procedure Rules as they were waived what was the reason and is there evidence of discussion before the decision was made to justify this?
Was the LA informed?
Can the school demonstrate that the deviation from the prescribed limits is reasonable and offers better value for money?
1.16 / Does the school have purchasing cards?
If so, who are the cardholders?
Who reconciles the statements against goods purchased?
1.17 / Does the school have any leases or rentals?
What is the total value of the lease?
How many years is the lease for and when is the contract due for renewal?
Was advise and guidance sought from the Procurement Service for schools?
Who does the school presently pay for the photocopier lease and how much is paid?
If the photocopier cost more than £5,000 (exc vat) who carried out the procurement of the photocopier? eg school or Northern Yorkshire Procurement Service
If the photocopier cost more than £10,000 for a Primary school or £20,000 for a Secondary school was the agreement sent to NYCC for approval? (Sent to Education & Schools Lawyer, Legal Services)
1.18 / Is there a contract review schedule in place? (Including both NYCC and external contracts.)
If so, how often is it reviewed and competitively tested against other suppliers?
1.19 / List all external contracts (including NYCC Traded Services).
Is there contract in place for the service, which has been approved by the NYCC Education & Schools Lawyer and signed by both parties?
How long is the contract for and how was the supplier selected? If over >£172,514 was the contract advertised in OJEU?
Does the school have evidence on file that all contractors have valid £5m Public and £10m Employer’s Liability Insurance cover?
Have the employees been DBS Cleared? (Only needed if they come into contact with the children once a week or four times a month).
Has an individual officer been given responsibility to monitor the delivery of each of the externally procured services? If so who?
What procedures are in place to monitor contract compliance and service delivery?
Is the officer responsible happy with the service provided?
If over £50000 per annum is there evidence of regular contract meetings taking place?
Attachments requested
Minutes proving that benchmarking/contracts/leases have been discussed (if available)
A copy of the Budget Management Policy, Scheme of Delegation and Terms of Reference
An electronic copy of the minutes when the Budget Management Policy was approved by the Governing body
Contracts Review Schedule for the last 2 years (if available)
Copies of certificates to prove attendance to the training courses mentioned above (if available)
Completed by: Date:
Email address:
Any other comments:
/ Veritau Ltd is a company jointly owned by North Yorkshire County Council and City of York Council /Page 8 of 8 (June 2014)